Revenge is Sweeter than You Ever Were
by superdupersk8r61
Summary: Post Eclipse/Pre Breaking Dawn. James escaped that night in Phoenix and has been hiding in Brazil, plotting his revenge. What happens when a mysterious stranger approaches him and has her own personal vendetta against the Cullens? Read to find out!
1. Prologue

**A/N **Soo... my first Twilight fic. I must admit, I'm pretty nervous about it. I didn't want to go with just another Edward/Bella story so I thought, why not bring James back for some fun?! I hope you guys enjoy. Reviews would be most appreciated, especially since it is my first Twilight fic. Thanks, guys :)

**Disclaimer:** Obviously don't own anything to do with Twlight. If I did, I'd be a frillionaire. Which I'm not. So that all belongs to Stephenie Meyer. Also, the title is taken from a song by the Veronicas. So I don't own that either. The only thing I own is the original character I introduce to you below.

**Shoutout:** Thanks to sw1m4l1fe for being my Beta. Don't know what I'd do without you, darlin'!

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**Revenge is Sweeter than You Ever Were**

"Revenge is an act of passion." ~Samuel Johnson

**Prologue (James' POV)**

The news of Victoria's demise reached me through word of mouth soon after it happened. Irina told Eleazar and Eleazar told someone and so on and so forth, until it found me, hiding out deep in the Brazilian rainforest. I only wandered into Rio de Janeiro at night to quench my thirst.

My mate's death should have affected me more than it actually did. But I just couldn't bring myself to care. I was still reeling from the Cullen's attempt at _my_ murder and plotting my subsequent revenge to focus on anything else.

In fact, I no longer took enjoyment from tracking. My latest hunting tactic consisted of sitting in dark, dingy bars, never actually drinking anything of course, and waiting for my dinner to come to me. It never took long. Here, in Brazil, I was considered exotic, with my light hair and pale skin.

The women were drawn to me. All I had to do was flirt with them a little and they practically fell over themselves, begging me to take them home. And I'm sure you can imagine the rest.

And so what if I was using a lazy way out? Sue me. It still gave me a thrill. I may not have been flesh and blood, but I was still male after all.

The night started out like any other. I was seated at my usual spot in the bar, in a corner booth far from the rest of the crowd. Then,_ she_ breezed through the door. I knew right away that I found my target for the night. Her straight, black locks flowed down her back, and she had legs for miles, not uncommon for Brazilian women. But there was something different about her. Unlike many of my latest meals, she didn't have the stereotypical tan. In fact, she was pale. I would even go so far as to say she was as pale as I was.

She ignored the blatant stares every Y chromosome in the room was giving to her and headed straight toward my booth, her eyes locked on me the entire time. And the way she moved, practically gliding, triggered something in my brain.

But it wasn't until she had slide herself into the seat across from mine that I recognized her for what she was. She looked directly at me with eyes are dark as night and the telltale purple bruises under them. There was no question about it: this mysterious stranger was a vampire.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the infamous James," she purred in a low, sultry voice, drawing out the "s" on my name with a faint hint of a Portuguese accent.

I eyed her curiously, keeping my head low. "Do I know you?" I asked causally, trying not to be put off by this random appearance of another vampire.

She pressed her full lips together in a sly smirk. "No, but I know you," she said cryptically.

"Who are you?" I asked, narrowing my eyelids over my eyes, trying to appear menacing.

It seemed my attempt was in vain, however, because that little smirk of hers only grew larger once she heard my threat. "Who would have thought? The greatest tracker our kind has ever seen brought down by the measly, little Cullens. Tsk, tsk, James," she said, waving her finger at me mockingly. "I thought you were better than that."

My jaw clenched. "How do you know about that?" I asked defensively.

"I know a lot of things about you."

If I was still human, I knew my blood pressure would be rapidly rising by this point. Her vague answers were beginning to frustrate me. However, I kept my cool demeanor on the outside. "How?" I asked. "Are you part of the Amazon Coven?"

She waved me off as if I were a silly little child. "No, no. I fly solo. I've found that it's easier, less people to slow me down."

Then, she leaned in across the table. "But I've recently been reconsidering that notion," she whispered.

Okay, this enigmatic thing was officially getting on my nerves. "What are you saying?" I asked harshly, wanting her to get make her point already.

She pulled back. "It's simple really. You and I, I think we'd make a great team. After all, we're both after the same thing."

Under the table, I curled my hands into fists, trying to resist the urge to start a fight with her in the middle of the very crowded bar. "Which is…?" I asked, hoping to encourage her to get on with it.

She casually ran a hand through her thick hair. "Come on, dear James. Isn't it obvious? Revenge," she purred coolly.

My jaw dropped slightly. She sure has hell caught my attention now. "Excuse me?"

The composed look that had been on her face since the moment she glided into the bar was momentarily replaced by one of anger. "Those Cullens have wronged us both," she snapped.

She paused, shaking off her moment of vulnerability. Her calm demeanor was present once again. "Not only did they just kill your mate, but they almost destroyed you as well," she laughed. "I have to ask, by the way, how exactly_ did_ you manage is slip through their grasp? I would have thought the little one would have seen you escaping."

My face hardened at the thought of the night in Phoenix. "She was too preoccupied with the human at the time to worry about anything else. I ran down here because I knew I would be too far away for her to keep track of me. And besides, it's not like she would have been looking out for me. She, along with everyone else, thought I had been defeated."

Another question I had for her was plaguing my mind. "And now, _I _have to ask, I didn't make my escape known to anyone. How did you find me?"

For the first time, she laughed. The sound was melodic. "Well, I wish I could take more credit than I deserve, but it by pure, dumb luck. You see, when a vampire takes over my hunting grounds as you did, you sure as hell can bet I'm not going to just allow that to happen without asking a few questions first. So I went to Kachiri to see if she knew anything about an unfamiliar, blonde vampire who was roaming our land," she said. Karhiri was the name of the leader of the Amazon Coven.

The mysterious vampire continued. "She didn't, but that same night she went with me to watch you. It was then that she was able to identify you and she proceeded to tell me your story. And I have to say, I was quite intrigued by you, James."

"If everyone knew my story, then how come you didn't?"

"You see," she said, casually running a slender finger around the rim of my glass that was still sitting, untouched, on the table. "just around the same time that you were supposedly facing your 'end', I was facing my beginning."

I grimaced. Her latest statement could only mean one thing: she was a newborn, the most dangerous kind of vampire, the kind recently raised to bring an end to the Cullens but were defeated.

Noticing the look of my face, she laughed softly. "Don't worry though; I'm well past the 'newborn' phase. I am not in any way a threat to you, quite the opposite in fact. As I said before, I think that we could both use each other."

"You also said that the Cullens wronged you too. What did they do that you are now out looking for revenge?"

"It wasn't anything that _they_ did, exactly. It was just one of them, _Edward_," she spit out his name as if it were covered in poison.

"When I was still young, I traveled the world, looking for the best place to…"she paused, searching for the best phrase. "…make my _casa_," she said, retreating to her native tongue. "for lack of a better word. Edward and I met while I was in Italy."

I said nothing, waiting for her to continue. When she didn't, and it was clear that she was done, I pressed her on. "And just what did he do that constitutes your need for revenge?"

For the first time since she sat down, she broke her eye contact with me, looking down at her nails. "That's a story for another time," she said quickly, brushing me off. Then she looked back at me. "For now, let's just say that I need you and you need me. Together we can bring him and that human down."

I slowly stroked my chin, thinking about her offer. "An interesting proposition, but not something that I haven't thought of before. There's just one little problem by the name of Alice Cullen. How do you suggest we carry out your plan without her seeing it?" I asked, maybe a bit smugly, thinking that she finally had to admit that she did not know everything like she seemed to think.

However, she sent me one of her now infamous smirks. "Well, I'm so glad you asked, James. I guess you could say that, I, like a few of those Cullens, as well as yourself, possess a special talent. As Edward is able to hear other's thoughts and Alice is able to see them and their outcome, I am able to alter thoughts. Make them think things even if they don't want to. I can plant any image I chose in that little seer's brain. She'll never be able to see us coming. And by the time we are close enough to Edward for him to hear our thoughts, it will be too late."

"I'm not sure I'm quite following you."

Sighing, she slide out of her seat and made and into mine, slinging her cool arm across my shoulders. "Let me put it this way," she said, her face mere inches from mine. "I can transfer thoughts to others. If I so much as think of, let's say, monkeys, for example, and I will the thought into someone else's brain, they won't be able to think of anything else but monkeys for a while. Long enough to buy us time to carry out whatever we needed."

"Why should I help you?" I asked, keeping my voice low and my black eyes locked on hers.

Another smug smirk. "Face it, James. That human ruined you. She caused the downfall of your mate and you never even got your snack. You won't be satisfied until you destroy her once and for all. And I can help you do that. Trust me, the feeling of revenge will be sweeter than any blood you've ever tasted or ever will taste."

After a brief moment, she added. "Even hers," giggling softly at the thought.

She had me, and she damn well knew it. She had put an offer on the table that, knowing my story, she knew I couldn't refuse. But there was one last thing I needed to know. "Before I agree to this, at least tell me your name."

"Rhiannon," she said, offering me her hand.

I took it. "All right, Rhiannon. You've convinced me," I said, sealing our deal with a handshake. "Now just what, exactly, did you have in mind?"


	2. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **Still don't own anything besides Rhiannon

**Shoutouts:** Thanks to sw1m4l1fe, Grace and Alessandrakatrina for their reviews on the last chapter :) And of course, to sw1m4l1fe for her awesome beta'ing/commentary!

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**Chapter One (Rhiannon's POV)**

Damn. That was easier than I thought. Not that I had been worried. After all, even when I was still a human, I never had much trouble getting men to do whatever I wanted. But even so, I thought James would at least put up a little bit of a fight. Wait, what am I saying? Of course I didn't really believe that.

Men are so easy. All it takes is one right word: money, power, sex, _revenge_, and they're putty in a female's hand.

Thanks to Kachiri, I knew exactly what to say to James to make him go along with my little plan. I almost feel bad for the guy; really all he is to me is a pawn. He needs me to get past Alice; that much is true. But honestly, I'd be fine with or without him. I'm only taking him along to do my dirty work. I don't care much for tracking so he'll be a big use to me in that area. Also, it never hurts to have a backup when looking at the prospect of facing a load of heated Cullens.

Or so I've heard.

Not that we'll ever have to face the lot of them together. Thanks to my innate ability to mess with people's thoughts, they'll never see us coming and we'll be able to catch them off guard. But I heard that Edward was _fast,_ much faster than I could ever hope to be. And that's where James comes in. He'll catch him for me, and I'll never even have to lift a finger.

Except of course, when it comes time to destroy that _filho da puta_. That job is all mine. Excuse my language.

There is one last reason why I wanted James to accompany me on this vendetta of mine. And I have to say, it's even more superficial than the others. Plain and simple, I hadn't been with a man I haven't killed since my transformation. Local papers even dubbed me "_A Viúva Preta_", "The Black Widow." Just like a female spider kills the male after mating, when I finished a meal, I always made it look as if I had killed him after sex.

I was quite the celebrity around the city and of course, they never caught me.

But eventually, it got old. I grew bored. I wanted a real partner. Someone I could have some fun with and not have to kill afterward. James was the perfect man, well, _vampire_, for the job. He had just lost his mate and I was willing to be his rebound. And it didn't hurt that he was easy on the eyes.

Taking down Edward was my main goal; James was just an added bonus. But back to the main task at hand…

"James!" I called loudly. We had decided he would stay with me in my house until we made the trip to Washington. I figured it would be a good chance to get to know one other, learn our strengths and weaknesses. We would need that information later.

My partner in crime appeared in the threshold of the room, wearing low slung jeans and nothing else. From the looks of his smooth, taut muscles all over his body, I knew he would serve both his functions quite nicely.

"You bellowed, master?" he said jokingly, tilting his head in a mocking bow.

Master. I quite enjoyed the sound of that. I'm sure it was something I could get used to.

I settled down onto my comfortable, oversized couch. "We need to go over a plan of attack for when we arrive in Forks," I told him, casually patting the space next to me, inviting him to sit down.

He took the bait and sat down. However, he was looking at me curiously. "Plan of attack? Do you honestly think I'm the kind of guy that enjoys _plans_?" he asked, raising one of his practically nonexistent eyebrows inquisitively. "I don't think about things. I just…_do_ them."

I mirrored his actions, raising one my own arched eyebrows as I stared him down. "Did you ever think that maybe that's what got you into trouble in the first place? That maybe, if you had just taken the time to, I don't know, come up with a plan, you wouldn't have been defeated?"

I struck a nerve. "What the hell do you know?" he spat, sneering at me in disgust.

"I told you before, I know lots of things. Including exactly what happened that night," I said, relaxing back against the couch, not letting him faze me.

He glared at me, his black eyes suddenly wild. "I _did_ have a plan that night," he said, the tone in his voice letting me know he was on the defensive. "I was able to draw the human away from her protectors. If the rest of them had shown up even ten seconds later, I would have had her, and you and I wouldn't even be having this conversation."

"You and I wouldn't be having this conversation if you had had a better plan," I stated simply.

He suddenly sprang up from the couch, looking like a lion ready to pounce. "Do you want me to walk out of here? Is that what you're going for? Because I would do it without a moment's hesitation. And let me tell you, I wouldn't look back for one second either."

At this point, I honestly had to bit the inside of my lip to keep from laughing aloud. I didn't know it'd be this fun to rile him up. I wondered how far I could push him.

"Now, now, James, there's no need to get your panties in a bunch," I said, shaking my head sarcastically, causing my dark hair to sway across my shoulders. "Besides, you and I both know that your words are just veiled threats. You would never walk out on me," I said, eyeing him pointedly.

He shifted his weight onto the balls of his feet. For a split second, I thought maybe I had gone too far and he was going to attack. However, he simply turned around, stalked over to my front door, and flung it open with enough force that it almost flew off the hinges.

"Don't tempt me," he said threateningly. "I've known you for, what? Twelve hours maybe? I don't owe you anything."

"You're right," I shrugged. "You don't owe me anything."

He must have thought I was admitting defeat because he made a move to walk out the door. But I continued. "You owe it to yourself."

Hearing that made him freeze in his steps, his back still turned to me. "Admit it, James. You will never be truly satisfied until you get your revenge on the girl. And the way I see it, you take one step out that door and that never happens. But it's your decision," I told him, making sure I sounded nonchalant.

He stood there for a few moments, clearly weighing his options. However, in the end, he turned around and made his way back over to the couch, his shoulders sagging and his overall body language letting me know that I was back in control.

I smiled at him coolly. "That's a good boy. Now, are we agreed that it is in our best interest to come up with a plan?"

"Yes_, master_," he said again, but this time, not in a joking manner as he did before. This time there was a bite behind his bark. A shiver of excitement ran down my spine. He was proving himself to be just as headstrong as I was and there's nothing like a clash of personalities to keep things spicy.

Or maybe that's just me and my masochistic tendencies.

"Now that that's settled, have a seat, relax. We can discuss our plans more calmly, yes?" I purred, once again patting the seat next to me.

He sat back down in a huff. "Please. Let's discuss _our_ plans," he said sardonically, rolling his black eyes.

Oh yes, definitely headstrong.

On the inside, I was grinning like an idiot. This was going to be better than I originally thought. Fighting with James may end up being just as fun as having my way with him. However, on the outside, I still remained calm and collected.

"Here's what I was thinking:" I said, shifting my body so that I moved closer toward him. "First objective: The girl. I need to spend a little bit of time with her, gain her trust. Become, dare I say it…friends. That way, when the time is right, I can take her for a quaint walk in the woods and deliver her directly into your waiting arms… and teeth," I added as an afterthought.

James let out a less-than-gentlemanly snort. "And you thought I had bad plans," he said with a short laugh. "There are two flaws to your suggestion. One: Edward would never allow Bella anywhere near you considering how badly you two get along since you're plotting your revenge against him. Two: Bella spends every waking moment with vampires. She'll be able to recognize you instantly."

I slung my arm around his shoulders and played with his blonde ponytail sardonically. "Oh, James, I know we've just met, but I would hope you knew me better than that," I said, my voice oozing with sarcasm. "You think I didn't think those things through? As for the Edward problem, you're forgetting my abilities. I'll trick the seer into thinking of something completely ludicrous, haven't quite decided on what just yet so she can't see what's going to happen to her brother. Then, I'll just 'persuade' Edward into thinking that he's suddenly ravenously thirsty. He'll leave to hunt for at least a week. That's plenty of time for me to win the girl over with my infectious personality," I said, laughing at the last thought.

He didn't say anything, just sat there stoically, not looking at me and staring straight ahead as if it were in defiance. So I continued. "And if we're lucky, he'll take some of the others with him. The less of them there are to worry about, the better."

He turned his head suddenly, his dark eyes meeting mine. "You said that they'll only think of whatever you want them to for a while. What happens when he realizes he's not actually thirsty?" he asked, looking at me victoriously, thinking he had found yet another flaw in my plan.

I hope you didn't think I was going to give him that satisfaction.

"That's not going to happen, because I'll put the thoughts in his head every day. Hourly if need be," I told him, batting my thick eyelashes, feigning innocence.

"You've really thought this through, haven't you?" he asked, looking dumbfounded. The tone of his voice had also changed. There seemed to be a tiny hint of awe in it.

"Impressed?" I asked, smirking.

"Not yet," he told me, crossing his arms across the hard muscles in his chest. "What about the second flaw?"

I scoffed. "Like the fact that I'm a vampire is going to keep her away. I'll just tell her that I'm visiting from the Amazon Coven, which is almost the truth. Anyway, she'll probably love the fact that there's a new vampire in town."

"All right, now that Bella is taken care of, how do you plan on destroying Edward?"

"That's the easiest part of it all. Once we have the girl in the woods, I'll take the mind blocks off of Edward and the seer and together, they'll figure out what's really going on. He'll come rushing to the woods to defend his beloved, but alas, it will be too late. Pity," I said, jutting my lip out in a sarcastic pout.

He pursed his lips together, thinking over all that I had just told him. But before he could say anything, I continued. "Then it's two against one and there's no question on how that'll end."

"I have a question," he said stubbornly, still trying to find some sort of loophole in my plans. "What about the rest of his family. Two against one is no problem, but what about two against seven?"

"I'm so _thrilled_ that you're still underestimating me," I said feigning offense, looking at him through narrowed eyes. "As I take the mind blocks of Edward and his sister, I'll put them on the rest of the family saying that one of the members of the Irish Coven needs them right away. An emergency, you see. They'll speed off toward the Emerald Isle and be thousands of miles away. By the time the little seer clues them into what's going on, it'll be far too late."

I had him. My plan was flawless and he knew it. But still I had to asked, albeit sarcastically, "Any objections?"

"How could there be?" he asked, matching every bit of my sarcasm with his own. "You've thought of everything."

I let his sarcasm slide and grinned at him as I patted him on the hand. "I knew you'd realize that eventually."

"You know, you're almost too evil for your own good," he said, sounding as if he was finally impressed with me.

I sent him an evil smirk. "Silly, James. You say that as if it's a bad thing."


	3. Chapter 2

**Shoutout: **sw1m4l1fe and Alessandakatrina for their reviews on the last chapter. You guys really make me smile. sw1m4l1fe for being my awesome beta, especially on this chapter, which i finished writing at like, 5 in the morning, so there were quite a few mistakes. and a special thanks needs to out to Josh Groban and his gorgeous, gorgeous songs which helped me reach the level of sappiness i felt i needed for some parts of this chapter. haha

**Disclaimer: **Plain and simple, don't own Twilight. Or NASCAR or ESPN or Scrabble. Soudns random, but i managed to mention them in the chapter.

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**Chapter Two (Edward's POV)**

I don't think I'd ever been as happy in my life-well, _existence_- as I was now.

Victoria had finally been defeated, the Volturi were no longer a concern, and my soul reason for being had finally agreed to marry me.

It took some convincing, yes, but Bella- beautiful, sweet, stubborn Bella-will soon be my wife. I never thought I would ever find anyone who I felt as strongly for as I did her. Living in the family that I did, I was exposed to irrevocable love every moment. After all, I lived with Alice and Jasper, Rosalie and Emmett, and most of all, Carlisle and Esme. They were all the quintessential models for true love. Sometimes, I felt like the outcast in my own home. They were living the happy, couplely life and I was stuck on the sidelines.

Until about two years ago.

Then she waltzed, or maybe _fell_ would be more appropriate for her, into my life and changed me forever. Bella became my sun and my moon. She became my day and my night. She became my north, south, east and west. She became my… everything.

Sure, there were a few minor incidences along the way: killer vampires, jealous werewolves, and me, thirsting for her blood. But what normal couple didn't have their problems? The point is…we persevered, as true love always does in the end.

Things couldn't have been more perfect.

"Bella, love, are you here?" I called, coming out of my bedroom, glancing at my watch. It was past four in the afternoon. She should have been at my house hours before.

A small voice drifted upstairs. "I'm in the living room."

I came downstairs and turned left into in the living room where I found her sandwiched on the couch in between my two brothers, Emmett and Jasper. It was quite a sight to see. My little Bella looked as if the couch was swallowing her sitting next to the two of them. Big, burly, Emmett was on Bella's left and while Jasper, on her right, was nowhere near as overpowering as Emmett, but he would still put many pro athletes to shame.

And while the sight of them surprised me, it didn't shock me nearly as much as what they were doing in the living room.

I looked at the three of them for a moment before speaking. "Are you watching…_sports_?" I asked, not bothering to mask the confusion in my voice. Bella has a strong aversion to anything even remotely athletic so this came as quite a surprise to me.

"Emmett and Jasper have a bet," Bella answered, looking up at me with pitiful eyes while the other two kept their attention on the screen.

I raised one eyebrow, amused. "Which is…?"

"Whether or not I can last through the whole thing."

I was confused. Granted, it was common knowledge that Bella had zero interest in sports, but I thought it was a stupid bet. How hard was it to sit on a couch for a couple of hours?

"Don't you do it all the time with Charlie?" I asked, knowing full well that she, indeed, does.

"Baseball, yes," she said. Her voice sounded tired. "That I'm used to and can handle. It's at least fairly interesting."

She paused. "Sometimes," she added as an afterthought, looking off to the side. Then she looked back to me. "But this is NASCAR. I mean, seriously? Watching a car go round and round in a circle for 17 hours is torture. I'd rather watch paint dry."

I laughed. That made more sense. Car racing was something only a select few can watch. Leave it to my brothers to torture poor Bella with something they enjoy and make a bet out. "Which one of you delinquents bet that she couldn't do it?" I asked, still smiling.

Finally, Emmett pried his eyes away from the race. "I did," he answered, shooting Bella a cocky smirk before he turned it on me.

Jasper, noticing the look Emmett gave Bella, glanced up at me as well. "I didn't want to take the bet at first. I wasn't sure if she could do it," he said, shrugging his shoulders.

Then, he put his arm around her. "But I know Bella's tougher than she looks. I believe in her," he said, pulling her into his hard chest for a one-armed hug.

Bella's tired expression was immediately replaced by one of excitement. Her eyes lit up and a huge smile appeared on her lips. "Thanks, Jasper!" she exclaimed, genuinely appreciative.

I leaned on the threshold of the room. "What are the stakes?" I asked.

"A thousand dollars," was Emmett's casual reply, as if the money was nothing.

"How many laps are left?"

Emmett had to look back at the TV to answer my question. He squinted his eyes, scrutinizing the screen. Suddenly, his eyes got wide. "Wait! That can't be right!" he exclaimed, jumping up from the couch. He threw his hands behind his head a let out a heavy sigh. "There's no way there's only three laps left!" he exclaimed incredulously.

"Really?!" Bella squealed, excited. She seemed very proud of herself.

In less than a blink of an eye, Emmett had moved from standing near one end of the couch to the other, nearest to Jasper. He stood directly in front of him, bending over so that he was face-to-face with his brother. "What did you do?" he asked accusingly. "I knew I shouldn't have looked away from the screen!"

Jasper ran a hand through his mop of curly blonde hair, a sly grin playing on his lips. "Sorry, Emmett, I know I'm incredibly talented, but speeding up time is not, in fact, one of my gifts. You lost fair and square. Looks like you owe me some cash."

Mumbling incoherently, Emmett straightened up and dug into his back pocket for his wallet and fished out a handful of money. After counting out ten 100 dollar bills, he handed them over to Jasper with a scowl on his face. It wasn't the loss of the money that upset him; it was practically chump change to him. He just doesn't like to lose, period. It always deflates his ego a bit, though that never seems to last for long.

Jasper took five of the bills and put them in his pocket. He kept the other five in his hand and held it out to Bella. "Want half, Bells? It doesn't seem right to keep it all to myself. You shouldn't have had to sit through this and not benefit too."

"Thank you, but don't worry about it, Jasper," she said appreciatively. I knew she was grateful to Jasper for offering. Besides Rosalie, Jasper is the one family member who has had some trouble adjusting to Bella in our lives. It was nice that he was at least making an effort.

Bella shifted her gaze from Jasper to Emmett. "It's rewarding enough to see Emmett lose," she said, the corner of her eyes crinkling from impending laughter.

Emmett rolled his eyes. "Thanks a lot," he said sarcastically even though he knew Bella was kidding.

It was time for me to intervene. "If it is all right with the two of you, I'm now going to steal Bella away," I said, stepping away from my spot in the doorway to go over to the couch and grab Bella's hand. Effortlessly, I pulled her into a standing position and kept her fingers intertwined with mine as I stood waiting for their answers, even though they didn't really matter.

Jasper grinned at us. "Of course."

"Knock yourself out," Emmett mumbled, still grumpy as he refocused his eyes on the TV which was now broadcasting post-race interviews.

"Have fun, boys," I said laughingly, glancing over my shoulder at my brothers as I led my love away.

With Bella's small, warm hand in mine, I led her into the kitchen that we never use and we each took at seat at the bar stools that surrounded the island counter.

I reached up and tucked a small strand of hair that had gotten loose from her unruly ponytail behind her ear. "I haven't seen you all day." She had been working at the Newton's sporting goods store in the morning and before I realized she had come back, Emmett and Jasper stole her and held her captive.

She grabbed my arm that was still next to her face and I allowed her to pull me close. "I know," she whispered softly, placing a gentle kiss on my cold lips.

"I missed you," I said smiling at her.

She blushed, a rush of red suddenly flooding her usually pale cheeks. I was going to miss that once I helped her make the transformation into a vampire. "I was only gone a few hours, Edward."

"A few hours too long if you ask me."

She looked at me, her mouth open as she was about to reply. However, in an instant, her face became deathly white and her eyes, dazed.

"Bella, are you all right?" I asked worriedly, chilled to my bones over the sudden and complete change in her demeanor.

She stared at me for a moment before shaking her head, trying to refocus. "Your eyes, they're changing. They're…darkening," she said carefully as if she was trying desperately to choose the correct words. "They've gone from caramel to dark brown."

"Oh, Edward, now they're black," she said, throwing a hand over her mouth in surprise. "Blacker than I've ever seen them."

As soon as she said those words, my throat immediately became excruciatingly dry. It was unbearable. And suddenly, I felt myself beginning to lose control. My breathing became heavier and my mind began to spin. Then I looked at Bella like I hadn't looked at her in two years: like l wanted nothing more than to taste her blood.

Springing from the stool, I quickly placed myself in the corner of the kitchen, facing the wall so my back was to Bella. I gripped the countertop so tightly that the already pale skin of my knuckles turned even whiter. I took a few deep breaths, trying to regain control, but nothing was working. I had never experienced a thirst this powerful.

"What are you doing?" Bella asked, her voice quivering. I turned my head slightly so that I could peer over my shoulder at her. She slid off her own stool and started to take a step toward me.

I held up my hand, signaling her to stop. She froze in her place. "Emmett!"I called as loud as I could while my teeth were clenched together-another effort to try and control myself.

"What do you want?" Emmett's booming voice answered me. He sounded annoyed. "ESPN is showing the Midwestern Scrabble Championship."

Had it been a different situation, I would have laughed out loud at his pathetic excuse. But things being the way they were, I couldn't pause. "Emmett, I would really appreciate it if you come in here _now_." I said sharply, hoping that he couldn't ignore the desperate tone that was present in my voice.

By this point, I was shaking, still trying, and failing, to get a grip. "Edward, what's wrong?" Bella asked. I had turned back around so I could no longer see her, but I could tell that she was crying.

"Whoa," Emmett had appeared in the kitchen. "What's going on?" he asked seriously.

I suddenly realized that the deep breaths I was taking to try and control myself were having the opposite effect. I kept getting whiffs of Bella's scent. I had to hold my breath for a moment before I could answer him. "I need you to stand between Bella and me."

"Why?" he asked, sounding confused.

"You're really scaring me," Bella said, her voice still shaking.

If Emmett waited one more second, I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to resist my urge any longer. "Just _do_ it," I commanded in a low, guttural growl.

Once I heard him move across the kitchen to stand in the middle, I felt I could safely turn around and face them.

Seeing Bella's tearstained face made me pause for a moment. What was I doing? I was better than this.

Bella looked at me with sad, pleading eyes. "Please tell me what's going on."

"Yeah, man. You're acting like a crazy person," Emmett added, cautiously trying to lighten the mood while still being aware of my instability.

I cast my eyes toward the floor. "Or a vampire," I said sarcastically. Even at a time like this, I could appreciate the irony.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Bella asked, looking back and forth from me to Emmett for some sort of an explanation, not only to my statement, but to the entire situation.

With Emmett acting as a blockade, I began to calm down. There was no way he would let me anywhere near Bella in my condition. I was certain she would be safe.

"I'm sorry, Bella," I said softly. "It's just that all of a sudden this incredible urge came over me. I'm…_thirsty_."

"Is that all?" she asked, letting out a long sigh of relief. "Go hunt."

Now that I had regained control, I couldn't help but smile slightly. Of course she would accept my outburst as something as simple as the fact that I needed to go hunt. Well, to some extent, she was right. But we weren't just talking simple deer here.

Seriousness quickly returned to my eyes. "No, you didn't let me finish," I said to Bella carefully. "I needed Emmett between us because I'm thirsty...and your blood has never smelled sweeter to me. Not even when we first met."

It used to surprise me how, whenever I told Bella something about being a vampire, she never got scared. There were only a few occasions when I could see terror in her eyes. This was one of them. "But…but I thought you've learned to control that," she said, subconsciously taking a step backward, toward the door.

"I have. But I don't think I've ever been this thirsty," I answered her honestly.

Her jaw dropped. "Oh, my God," she said, looking as if she were about to hyperventilate.

My heart ached at the sight of her so terrified of me. I wanted nothing more than to go over to her and gather her up in my arms and never let her go. I never truly believed that I would hurt her; I just had to take precautions just in case. I remained in the corner of the kitchen.

"I don't mean to scare you, Bella. I will control myself, I promise. But I need to leave to hunt. Now."

She took some deep breaths. I could practically see her brain turning, trying to process what I had said. "Okay, okay," she said, shaking her head, deciding she was going to be accepting of the situation. "When you will come back?"

I thought for a moment. "It's hard to say. It normally takes a weekend to satisfy a normal thirst, but one this intense…I may need to be gone longer."

Emmett, who had been silent during Bella and I's exchange, spoke up. "Do you want some company?" he asked, looking at me with more than just normal brotherly worry. He knew something strange was going on.

"Thank you, Emmett, but no." I had to politely decline for reasons even I couldn't explain. "I feel like this is something I should do by myself."

I turned my attention to Bella. She was biting her lip and looking at me guardedly. "I'll be all right, love," I told her, truly believing it myself. "I sometimes get strange urges to hunt. They're not normally this bad, but something must have triggered it."

Bella just stared at me, clearly indicating that she didn't believe me, despite the composure in my voice.

I gave her what I hoped was a reassuring smile. "Everything's fine. I promise. You know I would tell you if it weren't." This was the truth. After all that we've been through together, there's nothing that I felt I had to hide from her anymore.

"Go do whatever you need to do," she said, putting on a brave face. "I'll be fine here. I'm sure Jasper could use my help conning more money out of Emmett."

"Hey!" Emmett exclaimed defensively, giving her a _light_ swat on the shoulder.

I felt a surge of relief. She had made a joke. This meant that she believed what I was telling her and that it would all be okay.

I stood there, trying to decided how would be the best way to leave. Bella was blocking my exit. I felt I had control, but I didn't want to have to face the temptation. I opted for the large window over the stove. "Have fun, Bella," I said, crouching on the windowsill, about to leave. "You'll never leave my mind while I'm away."

She held up her index finger and pointed it at her head. "And you won't leave mine," she said, the corners of her lips upturning ever so slightly.

We would be okay. I just knew it.

I ducked my head outside, ready to go, Bella's voice stopped me. "Edward?" she asked quietly.

"Yes?" I asked, turning my head so I could see her.

She gave me a sad smile. "I love you."

If my heart was still beating, it would surely stop every time she said those three simple words to me. I knew I would never tire of hearing them. Whenever they passed from her lips, it was almost as if everything else in the world just stopped, as if there were no one else alive-just the two of us.

"Love you too, Bella."

It was almost as if we were invincible.


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N:** This chapter is dedicated to Clyde. Wish this chapter was more exciting for you, buddy, but it's kind of a filler.

**Shoutout:** To Alessandrakatrina, Wickedgal08, and sw1m4l1fe for their reviews. And, as always, to sw1m4l1fe for her beta'ing and her encourangement when I feel like I suck.

**Disclaimer: **Maybe, by some miracle, I now officially own Twilight. Let me go check...nope. Still belongs to Stephenie Meyer. Damn. I also don't own the Oscars in case you were wondering.

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**Chapter Three (Rhiannon's POV)**

My arms were folded across my chest as my left foot tapped up and down on the ground of the dark Washington forest. "So?" I asked, eyeing James impatiently.

James, however, was not paying any attention to me. His eyes were closed and he was focused on deep breathing, like he was meditating, and had been doing so for about five minutes now. Finally, he snapped out of it.

His dark eyes locked on mine. "He's headed north. Far north." He took another deep breath. "Probably Alaska," he added with a nod, sounding confident.

See? That's why I keep him around.

I clasped my hands together in excitement. So far everything was going according to plan. The image that Edward was desperately thirsty had implanted in his brain and he was going far away from Forks to hunt. Nothing would stand in the way of me getting to the girl now.

"That couldn't be more perfect," I said, unable to keep the giddy grin that was threatening to appear off my face. "Where is the girl?" I asked, wanting to move onto the next phase.

He looked at me curiously. "Why are you asking me?"

A flash a fury flooded throughout my body. "Esta estúpido?" I asked, my hands flying to my hips as I shot him a death glare. I couldn't believe this.

"I know I don't have a strong handle on Portuguese or anything, but I'm pretty sure you just called me 'stupid.'"

I had to give him some credit. At least was as intelligent enough to pick up on what I said. "Well, maybe you aren't as stupid as I thought, but still an idiot none the less," I said, rolling my eyes.

"You asked me where the girl was. How the hell should I know?" he asked, crossing his arms defensively.

I stared at him. I knew he was seriously asking me that question. There was no hint of sarcasm in his voice and that frustrated me beyond all belief. "You. Are. A. Tracker." I said slowly, enunciating each word like a teacher would to a kindergarten student.

And yet, apparently, I still wasn't clear enough. He continued to look at me as if he had no idea what I was saying to him, let alone the point I was trying to make.

I clenched my jaw tightly, trying to resist the urge to beat him silly. "You just did it with Edward. Do the girl," I said through gritted teeth, keeping my cool.

He considered this for a moment. "Do you want me to roll over and beg too?" he asked, curling his upper lip into a sneer, exposing his gleaming teeth to me. He was attempting a sign of dominance.

My previous anger immediately disappeared. His sharp remark amused me greatly. Stupid boy, actually thinking that he was in control.

I moved up closer to him so that we were standing there, face-to-face. Well, as face-to-face as we could have been considering he was a good 8 inches or so taller than me. "Not now, James. There's a time and a place for everything," I said, patting him on the shoulder condescendingly.

I kept my hand on that shoulder and grabbed hold of it. I pushed down, forcing his body down, his knees buckling until his eyes were level with mine. I then placed my lips to his ears. "But ask me again tonight," I purred seductively before releasing him and backing away.

He sprang back up to full height. "Hilarious," he said, rolling his eyes.

How cute. He thought I wasn't serious.

I raised an eyebrow. "Who's kidding?"

He looked at me inquisitively. I could practically see the wheels in his brain turning, trying to decide if I was actually being serious or not. After all, he still didn't know that he would be getting more than just revenge on this mission. But I decided not to press the issue any further for the moment.

"Now, I need you to focus," I said, boring my eyes into his. "Where's the girl?"

"You know, it doesn't really work like that. I can't _see_ where she is," he said scathingly. It seemed as if he thought it was his turn to talk to me like I was the idiot. "I have to follow her smell."

I smiled sarcastically, letting him know that his pitiful attempt at belittling me did nothing to faze me. "Great. So pick up her scent. You do remember what it's like, don't you?" I snapped sharply.

He seemed to miss my latest dose of sarcasm and sat down on a large rock. His head hung low, eyes cast downward and he ran a strong hand over his hair. "Of course I do," he said harshly, speaking to the ground. I could see the muscles in his arms contracting from the tight fists he was making. He was becoming angry just thinking about the memory. "It's been haunting me for over a year now. I could never forget a smell that strong…or that sweet."

That last statement must have triggered something inside of him because his head suddenly snapped up and his eyes immediately found me. "Wait a minute. Are you sure this a good plan?"

I sighed and sunk down onto a rotting tree stump that was next to his rock. "How many times am I going to have to explain this to you, James?" I asked him, exasperated. "I already thought of a solution to everything that could possibly go wrong."

"Absolutely everything?" he asked stubbornly. He seemed proud of himself, like he thought he found yet another loophole in my plan.

"Absolutely everything," I replied. And I believed it too. If James thought he found a flaw, which was highly unlikely anyway, I was sure as hell going to come up with a reasonable excuse. I was quite a quick thinker.

He sardonically held his index finger so it was barely above his thumb, making a sign for "small." "If you ask me, there is one teeny, tiny, insignificant detail that you failed to explain to me."

Yeah right.

"I'm waiting…" I said with a smirk. This ought to be good.

"You're a vampire."

His "flaw" was so ridiculous that I almost fell off of the tree stump in disbelief. "Okay, I officially retract my previous statement saying that maybe you weren't stupid," I said, throwing my arms out to the side to steady myself.

He leapt up from the rock. "Hey!" he exclaimed defensively.

When I saw that he had jumped up into a sanding position, I immediately followed his actions. I wasn't about to let him be in a position where he might be able to overpower me.

"I mean, seriously, James, if you're just noticing the fact that I'm a vampire _now_, then-"

He put a hand on my shoulder, stopping me in the middle of my sentence. "No, you didn't let me finish. You're a vampire. Bella is a human," he said. As if that made any more sense.

I shrugged his hand off of me. "Nothing gets by you, does it?" I asked, glaring at him as my eyelids narrowed over my dark eyes.

He simply smirked at me. I cannot even begin to tell you how irritating he was being. Here he was, making the most obvious statements ever and he was trying to make me out to be the idiot. It took every ounce of restraint I had in me not to knock that stupid grin right off his face and teach him some respect. But I did nothing, and waited for him to continue.

He must have been feeling confident because he walked around me in slow, patronizing circles, while I just stood in the middle, fuming. He made a few circles, just studying me, before he spoke. "If her blood is so irresistible to me, what makes you so positive you'll be able to control yourself in her presence? I'm not sure, but if I had to guess, I would say that she might not take too kindly to her new 'friend' trying to drink her blood upon your first meeting. If you want my advice, I'd wait until at least the third date. You want her to respect you."

That was it. There was no way I was going to let him go along with his little façade any longer. No reason to delude him into thinking he was in control. In an instant I had appeared directly in front of him, stopping him in his tracks.

I glared at him, my eyes shooting daggers. "Is that you trying to make a joke? Is that what that was? Because you and I both know that I'm the smart-ass of this operation," I snapped.

That goddamn smirk on his face stayed exactly where it was. "You're avoiding the question. You didn't think it through."

He had pushed me too far. I placed both my hands on his shoulders and used the bit of newborn strength I had left to push him all the way to a sitting position on the ground. I immediately got on top, straddling him. Taking his face in one of my hands, like an obnoxious great-aunt would do to a child, I pulled his face close to me.

"Correction: I_ did_ think it through," I hissed sharply. "I just wanted to make our roles in this little relationship obvious. I make the plans and the witty, sarcastic comments and you do what I say."

I released his face and stood up, freeing him. "Clear?" I asked, one of my eyebrows rising.

I finally got through to him. "As mud," he spat as he pulled himself up off the ground, wiping the seat of jeans.

Guess I hadn't knocked all the fight out of him after all, which was good. I wanted him to know exactly where he stood, but at the same time, it wouldn't be any fun if he was completely submissive. It was a fine, fine line I was flirting with.

I nodded, satisfied. "Perfect. And as for your question, it's not something you have to worry your pretty, little blonde head about. I can handle it," I said, turning away from him to continue through the forest. It was time to head into Forks.

He grabbed my wrist before I could make it very far, and pulled me back to him. When I collided with his bare chest, it sounded like a thunder clap. Maybe he had more fight left him in then I thought.

"How could you possibly be sure about something like that?" he asked, sneering at me. Yup, definitely more fight than I gave him credit for. "You're only a little over a year old."

"I was incredibly stubborn as a human. I never did anything I didn't want to do. And I feel I retained that trait when I…changed," I plainly told him. I thought that was that and tried to pull away from him so I could continue through the forest.

However, his grip on my wrist remained firm. "I'm telling you,you've never smelt blood like hers." The tone of his voice had changed. It was no longer cocky, but serious instead. His eyes searched mine, signaling that he knew from personal experience and worried about what I would do when I got my first whiff.

"And I'm telling _you_ that I'll be able to resist," I said, staring him straight in the eyes, felling confident.

He finally let go of my wrist. "Yeah, we'll see," he said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

This was getting ridiculous. I had to show him who was in control once and for all. "All right," I said, a new plan formulating in my mind. "If you're so sure, would you like to make our plan a little more interesting?"

"What, like a bet?" he asked, surprised at my sudden suggesting.

"Exactly like a bet."

He ran a hand over his chiseled jaw, thinking over my words. "What are the terms?"

I thought for a moment as an evil smile appeared on my lips. "Well, if you win, you get the satisfaction of saying 'I told you so' anytime you want and I won't be able to say a thing. _And_ I'll stop with the sarcastic comments."

"That sounds too good to be true," James said, eyeing me curiously.

I shrugged, acting like it was no big deal as I waited for him to contemplate my offer.

When I didn't continue, he asked, "And if you win…what do you get?"

I smiled slyly. This was exactly the question I was waiting for.

"You."

His eyes got wide. "Excuse me?"

I smirked. "You heard me. If I win…you will be at my disposal to do whatever I please with," I said suggestively, choosing my phrasing carefully.

"Like a slave?" he asked, not quite grasping the implication in my words.

His naiveté was endearing. "If you want to look at it that way…sure."

James scoffed. "How is that any different than now?" he asked. Guess he knew where he stood after all.

I played the innocent angle, not letting him in on the second meaning behind the terms of this part of the bet. "Don't know," I shrugged. "Guess it's pretty much a win-win for you then, huh?"

He pursed his lips together, starting at me. "There has to be a catch," he said, looking for any sings in my face to show that I was bluffing.

I stood my ground. "If you're so sure that I'm going to lose, you don't have to worry about it, do you?" I asked, playing the mind-game card.

I worked. "I guess not," he admitted, defeated.

"Then do we have a deal?" I asked, extending my hand to him.

He didn't say anything more. He simply took my hand in his and shook it, letting me know that he was agreeing to the bet.

"Fabulous," I said, clasping my hands together. "Now that that's settled, let's go get the girl," I said, my dark eyes shining.

It took us a while to get into town from the forest. James had to stop every few minutes to take a deep breath, smelling the air to make sure we were going in the right direction toward the girl. But finally, we found her, strolling idly down the main strip of the town. She was alone.

Once we found her, James left me to go back to the woods to hide out. God forbid the girl, or any of the Cullens, saw him. We would be exposed immediately.

I crouched behind a building, waiting for her to get closer. Pulling a map I had acquired out of my pocket, I stepped out from around the corner right in front of her. I caught her in my hands before she could slam into my hard body. I didn't want to expose myself right away.

"Oh, excuse me!" I said apologetically, keeping a hold on her until she could steady herself.

She looked up at me, a red flush in her cheeks. "Don't worry about it. It's my fault," she said genuinely. "I usually can't take more than three steps without running into something or falling down. It's kind of a curse," she said with a slight laugh.

Just then, the wind blew softly and ruffled her dark hair. Suddenly, I caught a whiff of her smell. James was right. The scent was incredible, nothing like I had ever experienced before. I immediately felt my throat beginning to dry up. I curled my hands into fists, my nails digging into my palms as I took a few moments to collect myself. It wasn't going to be easy, but I knew I could do it.

I think I may have taken a few moments too many because she was looking up at me curiously, waiting for a response. I forced a smile on my face. "You really shouldn't be so hard on yourself," I finally said.

She smiled as well, but stood there slightly awkwardly until she caught sight of the map in my hand. "Are you new in town? I don't think I've seen you before," she said, not really looking my in the eye. Good thing I had been warned she was shy, otherwise I might have been offended.

Mercifully, the wind chose that moment to stop blowing. That would make this a bit easier. "I'm visiting from Brazil," I said, cringing slightly at the sickeningly sweet tone of my voice. "My name's Rhiannon."

"Bella," she said, offering me her hand.

I took it. "Muito prazer em conhecê-la," I said, instinctively reverting back to my native Portuguese.

She finally looked up at me, a curious expression on her face. "Oh, sorry," I said, faking a laugh. I was really getting into this character thing. "Habit. It's nice to meet you."

"You too," she said, shaking my hand.

The look on her face grew even more curious. As she studied me, her eyes almost seemed to glaze over. She was definitely taking in my appearance, making connections in her mind.

"Do I have something in my teeth?" I asked, suppressing a laugh.

"What?" she asked, coming out of her daze. When she saw me eyeing her curiously, she blushed again, casting her eyes toward the ground. "No, sorry."

She looked back to me. "It's just…wow. This is going to sound weird, but you have…similar features to people I know."

"Why is that weird?" I asked, still feigning innocence. This was fun.

She paused for a moment. I could tell she was trying to think of an answer that wouldn't make her sound utterly insane. "They're not exactly common features."

"Such as…?" I asked, egging her on.

"Well, dark eyes. Bruises under the dark eyes. And…" she paused again. " …extreme beauty," she said, sounding embarrassed.

I raised an eyebrow. "And that's a bad thing?" I asked with a smirk.

She went over to a nearby bench and took a seat. "Well, the people I know, aren't exactly…normal."

"How do you mean?" I asked, going over to sit beside her.

She flushed again. "No, it's stupid."

I bit the inside my lip to keep from laughing out loud. I knew exactly what she was trying to say, obviously, but I decided press her a little further. "Try me."

She blew a stray piece of hair out of her face. "If I tell you, you're going to call in the guys in white to come take me away."

She had a point there. But this was beginning to drag on too long. I had to get it over with. "If I tell you something crazy about myself, would you tell me your theory?"

"That sounds fair," she said, nodding in agreement.

"You have to keep an open mind," I said cryptically.

She laughed softly. "I like to think I'm a pretty open-minded person," she said, obviously thinking of Edward.

I sighed, pretending to be hesitant about the news I was going to tell her. "All right, I'll tell you. Try not to be scared though, okay?"

"I doubt that anything you can say will scare me. My boyfriend's told me some pretty shocking secrets. After those, I'm pretty sure I can handle anything."

I paused, trying for dramatic effect. "I'm a vampire," I announced, pretending to be embarrassed.

Bella's eyes grew wide and her jaw dropped. She didn't say anything.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"You're a vampire? SHUT UP!" she exclaimed incredulously, jumping up from the bench.

"You actually believe me?" I asked, suppressing yet another laugh. This was too easy.

She sat back down sheepishly when she noticed she was attracting the attention of other people. "That was my theory," she said, lowering her voice.

"You're not serious. You thought vampires existed?" I asked, feigning shock.

"Yes, actually."

"And you're not terrified?"

"Well, you know my boyfriend's shocking secrets?" she asked, motioning for me to lean in close to her. It was probably a bad idea, considering her irresistible scent, but I braved it and leaned in. "He's a vampire," she whispered secretively.

Obviously, I knew this, but I let my jaw drop slightly anyway. "Wait. Your boyfriend wouldn't happen to be to a Cullen, would he?" I asked in amazement.

If this performance wasn't worthy of an Oscar, I don't know what was.

"Edward. Do you know the Cullens?" she asked, her eyebrows knitting together curiously.

Damn straight I knew the Cullens; at least one of them. But wasn't going to let her know that. Instead, I simply shrugged and prepared for the most critical part of my act. "I've heard about them. You see, I've just recently grown out of my newborn phase, and now, looking back, I feel awful about the heinous crimes I have committed. I heard about the Cullens and their alternative lifestyle, and I was hoping that they might be able to teach me.

I bit my lip, hard, trying to bring tears to my eyes. Until I remember that, as a vampire, that was impossible. But I didn't let that little detail deter me. "If I have to be condemned to this life, I would rather not go through it as a monster," I said softly, my voice quivering.

I looked at Bella sheepishly. It looked like her heart was breaking for me. She took my hand in hers sympathetically. "If you'd like, I'd be happy to introduce you to them. Edward's not around, but the others are."

And the winner of the Best Actress goes to…Rhiannon!

"Really? You would do that?" I asked, wiping my nonexistent "tears" from my eyes.

"Of course!" Bella exclaimed excitedly, jumping up from the bench. I allowed myself to be pulled up with her. "It'll be fun to have a new girl around. Alice is great and all, but she can be a bit overpowering at times, and Rosalie is, well…Rosalie. Did you want to go right now?"

I concealed the urge to let an evil smile settle on my lips. Instead, I forced it into a shy smile. "Absolutely," I said.

Bella looked at me with genuine excitement. I almost felt bad for her. Almost.

"Great!" she said, her eyes gleaming. "They're going to love you," she said as she led me down the street, toward the Cullens.


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N:** So, kind of another filler chapter here. But I felt it was important. Please let me know what you guys think! I really appreciate it!

**Shoutout: **Thanks to wolverinacullen, Wickedgal08, and Alessandrakatrina for their reviews on the last chapter. You guys make me smile :)

**Dedication:** This chapter is dedicated to sw1m4l1fe for her loyal reviewing and, most importantly, her awesome beta'ing. I had quite a few mistakes in this one. It couldn't have been easier for you darlin, but I love ya for it! Also, thanks for kicking my butt in gear to get this chapter out. I couldn't have done it with you!!!

**Disclaimer**: You've heard it once, you'll hear it again...I don't own Twilight or anything else you may recognize. I only own Rhiannon.

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**Chapter Four (Bella's POV)**

I walked up the front steps of the Cullen home with Rhiannon in tow. I could hardly believe I had run into another vampire on the streets of Forks. This place was getting to be like something out of a fantasy novel.

Rhiannon seemed nice enough. We made small talk on the drive up to the Cullens. She told me a bit about her life in Brazil when she was still a human and I told her about Edward and me. She definitely had a lot of questions about Edward, but I guess I can't really blame her. If I was a vampire and I heard another of my kind had fallen in love with a human, I'm sure I would be interested too.

No sooner than I opened the door and took one step into the foyer, I heard a soft, melodic voice call out to us. "Is that you, Bella?"

I would have known that voice anywhere. "Esme?" I asked, heading toward where I thought the voice came from, motioning for Rhiannon to follow me.

"I'm in the kitchen," she answered. When I heard that, I quickly made a sharp left and entered the kitchen.

Esme was standing at the oven, wearing a pink apron over her clothes. She was pulling what looked like a tray of cookies out from the oven. Normally, there'd be nothing odd about this sight, but when the chef is a vampire who can consume nothing but blood, the image was a little strange.

She must have known how strange she looked, because she set the tray on the counter and turned around to face me and started to explain herself. "I figured you might be stopping by, so I thought I'd whip up some-" She trailed off when her eyes drifted from me to the Brazilian beauty standing next to me.

A look of confusion crossed her face for a moment but she quickly recovered and replaced it with a beaming smile. "Well. Who's your friend?" she asked politely but curiously.

"Esme, this is Rhiannon. Rhiannon, Esme," I said, introducing the two women to each other.

Esme studied my new friend for a moment. Recognition suddenly appeared in her eyes. "Rhiannon, if you don't mind me asking, are you…?" she asked, trying to find the best way to phrase her question.

Rhiannon looked amused. "A vampire?" she asked with a soft laugh. "Yes."

"Is Carlisle around?" I asked, remembering why I had brought her here in the first place.

"He's in his office," Esme told me without looking directly at me, for she was still studying Rhiannon.

"Thanks, Esme," I said.

Esme's eyes shifted back to me. "Anything for you, sweetheart," she said genuinely.

I loved her. She was also so sweet, always putting other people's needs in front of her own. I couldn't wait until I was officially part of her family, even though it would just be a technicality. I knew she already considered me as one of her own.

I led Rhiannon out of the kitchen, up the stairs and down the hallway until we reached Carlisle's office. The door was about halfway opened, so I could see him typing away furiously on his laptop. I knocked softly before stepping in. "Carlisle? Do you have a sec?" I asked cautiously. I didn't want to disturb him from important work.

He looked up at me with a smile on his face, reassuring me that I wasn't interrupting anything too critical. "Sure, Bella," he said.

When he saw that I was not alone, he, like his wife previously, looked slightly confused for a moment, but it didn't last long.

I decided it was time for some more introductions. "I wanted you to meet someone," I said, moving further into the office. "This is Rhiannon. I just ran into her in town."

Carlisle stood up from behind his desk and extended his hand to her. They shook hands, both with smiles on their faces. Everything seemed to be off to a good start.

"So Rhiannon, where are you visiting from?" he asked, sitting back down and motioning to the two chairs in front of his desk for us to do the same.

"Brazil, sir," she said formally.

He waved off her "sir". "Please, call me Carlisle."

She smiled appreciatively. "Carlisle," she echoed, testing it out.

"So, Brazil, you say? Are you part of Kachiri's coven?"Carlisle asked, weaving his fingers together and placing them on his desk in front of him. "Surely she would have mentioned a new member to her family."

Rhiannon elegantly brushed her long dark hair off her shoulders. Jeeze. I could only hope I'd be half as beautiful as her or Rosalie when I became a vampire.

"I know her, but I am not part of her coven. I briefly considered joining, and she said she'd be happy to have me, but I did not think I would be able to live with myself if I were to continue to hunt humans as they do. I thought if I were on my own, I'd be able to show some more restraint. If I wasn't, I was going to find a way to end my existence. I couldn't bear the thought of spending the rest of eternity as a monster," Rhiannon paused, as if the memory was too painful for her to continue.

As I sat back at listened to Rhiannon's story, I couldn't help but sympathize with her plight. I could never imagine going through such a transformation alone. I knew I was lucky to have the Cullens for support and I would never take them for granted.

She took a deep breath and continued. "But then I heard about you and your family, Carlisle, and they way you practice…how would you say…" she trailed off making hand gestures, unable to come up with the correct English word.

"Vegetarianism," Carlisle supplied, also understanding why she was hesitating.

"Yes, vegetarianism. Thank you," she said, beaming thankfully at him. "Like I was saying, I heard about your vegetarianism and I must say I was intrigued. I had no idea that it was possible to be…_what_ I am while not causing harm to anyone. It's the perfect solution for me, but I need your help. As long as you're willing, of course," she added, looking at Carlisle with hope radiating in her eyes.

I felt it was my turn to step in. "Will you help her, Carlisle?" I asked, hoping it didn't sound like I was begging. "I think it'd be really great to have another girl around here."

"I do not mean to intrude in any way," Rhiannon interjected quickly, a worried look flashing across her face. "All I'm asking is for you to simply teach me this vegetarianism and then I'll be on my way. I've never been one to overstay my welcome."

Carlisle smiled. "Don't be silly, Rhiannon. Obviously, Esme and I would be more than happy for you to stay as long as you'd like."

I jumped up from the chair excitedly. "Does that mean you're going to help?" I exclaimed.

"Of course, Bella. What kind of vegetarian vampire doctor would I be if I didn't do everything I could to help people who want to save other's lives?" he asked, his eyes twinkling with laughter.

I thought for a moment. "I guess you have a point there," I admitted, feeling a faint hint of blush rising in my cheeks.

Carlisle reopened his laptop. "I have a bit of work to finish up in here. Why don't you take Rhiannon to meet the rest of the family before we start?"

He turned to Rhiannon. "How does that sound to you?" he asked.

"I would like very much to meet your family."

"Great. I think the boys and Rose are in the garage, Bella. You could start there."

I grabbed Rhiannon's hand and tried to pull her up from her seat, forgetting of course, that she was a vampire and therefore, ridiculously strong, and trying to get her to stand would be like trying to lift the Space Needle.

"Thanks, Carlisle!" I said, finally admitting defeat and just nudging her so that she would get the hint.

It worked. She stood up as well. "Yes, thank you," she said with a polite nod.

Carlisle grinned. "It's my pleasure," he said to us before turning his attention back to his work.

"Oh, this is_ so_ exciting!" I exclaimed as I skipped quickly but carefully down the stairs. I was excited, but I definitely did not want to face plant down the stairs. I can't imagine that would make the best impression of Rhiannon. "You have no idea how much fun we're going to have together."

I turned to see her reaction. She seemed stoic, but once she saw me looking at her, she put on a smile. "I can only imagine," she said. It seemed somewhat forced, but I decided to let it go. I'm sure she was just shy.

I flung open the door to the garage and true to Carlisle's word, found Jasper, Emmett and Rosalie there, all three bent over the hood of Rosalie's red BMW M3 convertible.

"Hey, guys," I said loudly, making our presence known. Maybe I should have thought that one through because each of them jumped up in surprise and hit their heads on the open hoods. I felt bad for a second, but then I remember who I was dealing with and they were not going to be affected by a small bump on the head. So I continued.

"This is Rhiannon," I said as they gathered around me and my friend. "She's a vampire visiting from Brazil. She's going to hang out with us for a few days so she can learn about your vegetarianism."

"Rhiannon, this is Jasper," I said, pausing so Jasper could politely shake her hand.

"Em-" I tried to move down the line but I was silenced by the appearance of Emmett's gigantic hand covering my mouth.

"I'm…." he said, apparently wanting to introduce himself. But he didn't say anything else. He just stood there, grinning like a crazy person while Rhiannon looked back and forth from him to me with a raised eyebrow, waiting for some sort of an explanation, which I, for one, could not give her.

After a few moments, Jasper intervened. "Hey, idiot. What are you doing?" he said, asking a very legitimate question that we all wanted to know the answer to.

Emmett shot him an exasperated look. "It's called pausing for dramatic effect. You can Google it. It's very common," he said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world and that we were the idiots for not knowing what he was doing.

Why were all the Cullens seemingly fascinated with Google and what you could find on there? I pondered, remembering last year when Edward told me I could Google adrenaline rushes.

"You're insane," Jasper said, shaking his head incredulously. Okay, so maybe not _all _the Cullens were obsessed with Google.

"That's very true," Emmett agreed with a laugh. "But I'm also Emmett. It's nice to meet you," he said, finally extending his hand and shamelessly gave Rhiannon the "up-down."

He didn't let go of Rhiannon's hand until a loud, not-very-subtle throat clear jerked him back to reality. "You can put your eyes back in their sockets now, Emmett," Rosalie snapped.

"What?" Emmett said, turning around in surprise to find Rosalie glaring at him. If the phrase "if looks could kill" was true, and vampires could actually, you know, _die_, then Emmett Cullen would be a very dead man at the moment. "Oh, sorry, Babe," he said, giving his girlfriend a goofy smile, in hopes of being forgiven.

However, Rosalie didn't say anything more, just flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder and rolled her eyes.

It was silent for a moment until Rhiannon spoke. "And you are?" she asked, holding out her hand, the question directed at Rosalie.

"Rosalie," she said quickly, looking at her through narrowed eyes and keeping her arms folded tight across her chest. She then sighed exasperatedly and whirled around, going back to work on her car.

Rhiannon recoiled, surprised by the animosity. "Don't mind her," I said, leaning over to whisper to her. "She doesn't take too well to new people. And she's probably also jealous because you're, like, _way _prettier than her."

"I see," she said, keeping her eyes on the furious blonde.

"Do you guys know where Alice is?" I asked, wanting to quickly change the subject. "I want her to meet Rhiannon too."

Jasper sat down on one of the two ATVs that were in the garage, close to where we were standing. "Alice doesn't quite seem to be herself lately," he said running a hand through his mop of curls, sounding like he was choosing his words carefully.

A less-than-ladylike snort came from the other side of the garage. "That's putting it lightly," Rosalie said sarcastically, not looking up from her car's engine.

I eyed Jasper worriedly. "What's wrong?"

Emmett sat down on the second ATV, right next to Jasper. "She's gone crazy," he said, shrugging.

"Emmett!" Jasper exclaimed defensively. This was his love they were talking about.

"What? It's true," Emmett said, unabashedly. "She just wanders around all day with this dazed look in her eyes muttering to herself about cats. My theory is that she's plotting to dump Jazz, move to a tiny cottage deep in the woods, buy like 29 cats and spend the rest of her existence writing the most romantic love poetry to them," he said, looking up at me and Rhiannon with one of his teddy bear grins.

Rosalie had pulled her attention from the car and was now listening to Emmett speak. Her head was tilted to the side, looking at her boyfriend curiously. "You know, I'm flabbergasted when you say things like that."

"Thank you," Emmett said, crossing his arms in satisfaction.

"Not a compliment," Rosalie shot back before, once again, refocusing on the car.

Jasper shook his head, staring at his brother in disbelief. I guess he chose to ignore him because he turned his attention back to us. "I think what my dear brother is trying to say," he said, with an incredulous tone in his voice, "is that the only visions Alice, who is not _dumping_ me, by the way, is currently having all have to do with cats. She can't get them out of her mind, but she has no idea what they have to do with anything. She's completely frustrated. She can't see a thing apart from those damn cats."

My heart had begun beating rapidly while Jasper was recounting the happenings with Alice. I could feel a knot beginning to form in my stomach. I did not have a good feeling about this. "Has this ever happened before? What does it mean?" I asked, looking to Jasper for reassurance.

"To your first question, Bella, no, not like this. She's gotten visions stuck in her head before, sure, but they're usually always about someone's future and they never last for long. These visions are just like a continuous slide show of pictures of kittens. They can't mean anything. And they've been there for days now. As for the second question…none of us have any idea whatsoever," he said, eyeing my sadly.

"Even Carlisle?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper. If Carlisle didn't know what was going on, whatever was happening definitely was not good.

"Even him," he answered, confirming my fear. "But he seems to think that this is only temporary, so there's hope," he said, his voice straining as he tried to sound optimistic.

"Where is Alice now?" I asked.

"She met up with Edward in Alaska. She thought maybe if she got away for a while the vision would go away."

"Did they?"

"We don't know. No one's heard from either of them recently."

My heart sank. You know that saying, "no news is good news"? Well, that doesn't really apply in the world of vampires. "Something really weird is going on around here," I said, trying my best to stay calm.

"No one's arguing that," Emmett agreed sarcastically.

I stood there, trying to go over everything Jasper had just told me. And then suddenly, with the force of a thousand tracker trailers hitting me, it came to me. I looked at Jasper, my eyes widening. "Do you think maybe, somehow, the Volturi are behind all this?" I asked softly.

"Impossible," Rosalie said from across the garage.

Emmett scoffed. "No way."

Jasper, however, seemed to take me seriously. A hardened expression infiltrated his features and, in a flash, he was by my side. "What are you trying to say, Bella?" he asked with a hand on my shoulder, his eyes boring into mine, probing me to continue.

"Well, think about it," I said, casting my eyes toward the ground. "The two people in the family with the most useful gifts are now hundreds of miles away. Maybe they're trying to see if I'm still human. And with Edward and Alice gone, we'll never see them coming. They want to catch us by surprise so we won't have time to hide from them."

When I finished, I looked at Jasper, biting my lip while waiting for his reaction. He didn't say anything. He only looked at me with slightly widened eyes. That could only mean one thing. "Oh, my God. Do you think I'm right?" I asked quickly. I hadn't really wanted to believed my theory; it was just something I came up with as some sort of explanation for Edward and Alice's strange behavior. I never wanted to be right.

Jasper let out a long, contemplative breath. "It does make sense," he admitted regretfully.

"Hang on," Emmett said, interrupting the intense stare Jasper and I had going. "The Volturi are powerful, but I doubt they have the ability to suddenly cause Edward to be insanely thirsty or Alice to have visions of fluffy kitties. And even if they did, I really doubt they would waste their time doing it."

Jasper's eyes fluttered a few times, taking in what his brother had said. "You know, Emmett might be right," he said, sounding surprised.

"Ehh," Emmett shrugged. "It was bound to happen sometime," he said with a laugh.

"But it wouldn't be a bad idea to take precautions anyway. Rose, do you want to let Carlisle know about Bella's thought?" Jasper asked.

Rosalie looked annoyed but she simply shrugged. "Why not?" she said, wiping her hands on a dirty rag and dropping it on the floor before exciting the garage.

I watched her and made sure she was far enough out of earshot before I said anything. Then I exploded. "You're going to let_ Rosalie _tell Carlisle?!" I exclaimed, glaring at Jasper angrily. "Knowing her, she's not going to say anything and just let the Volturi come after me."

"She doesn't have a problem with you anymore, Bella," Emmett said, defending his girlfriend's hostile actions.

"Yeah, she just doesn't fully accept your plan to become one of us," Jasper explained.

Rhiannon, who had been quietly observing our conversation, suddenly spoke up. "What?" she asked, looking at me with a shocked expression.

"Oh yeah," I said, forgetting that she didn't know about the plans for my future. "I'm going to have Edward turn me into a vampire after our wedding. That way, I can spend eternity with him instead of, you know…growing old and dying," I said dryly.

"You're getting married?!" Rhiannon exclaimed suddenly, almost looking crazed.

When she saw Jasper, Emmett and I each staring at her strangely, she shook her head, and quickly recovered. "Umm, that's great," she said with a strained laugh. "When's the big day?"

I let her reaction go. Hers wasn't the first shocked reaction when we told people two teenagers were getting married. "A couple of weeks," I answered. "And I really hope the Volturi let me stay alive long enough to make it," I said, making a joke so I would seem like I was being calm about the whole situation.

"I wouldn't stress about it too much, Bella," Jasper said, slinging a reassuring arm around my shoulders.

Emmett slide off his ATV and came up on my other side, also putting an arm around my shoulders, sandwiching me between the two boys. "You've always got us to protect you," he said with a smile.

"Thanks," I said, looking at each of the gratefully.

Emmett sent Jasper a sly smile over my head. "You know what Bella needs, Jazz?" he asked, wiggling his eyebrows suspiciously.

"What's that, Emmett?" Jasper asked, sounding amused.

"She looks like she could use a little bit of fun; take her mind off things," Emmett said, nodding his head off to the side, attempting to get Jasper to take notice of something.

I did not like the sound of this.

Jasper followed Emmett's gaze until he landed on what he was talking about. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" he asked his brother, grinning wickedly.

"I'm thinking that I'm thinking what you're thinking," Emmett said laughing.

I ducked my way out from under their arms. "You guys are officially scaring me," I said, turning to them, throwing my hands on my hips suspiciously.

Emmett grabbed a helmet off the shelf that he was standing next to and tossed it to me. And suddenly, I understood.

"No way!" I said, looking from the helmet back up to Emmett, my eyes wide. "You're actually going to let me ride?! You never let me near your bikes."

"With just cause," Jasper said, also grabbing a helmet off the shelf. "You can't take two steps without injuring yourself. But you'll probably be safe as a passenger."

"Would anyone like to let me know what's going on?" Rhiannon asked, watching the three of us curiously.

"Jasper and Emmett are going to let me ride on their ATVs!" I squealed excitedly.

"Is that what those are?" she asked, nodding toward the two machines the guys were sitting on earlier.

"What?!" Emmett exclaimed, dramatically clutching his heart as if he was in pain.

"Oh no. Now you've got him started," Jasper said to Rhiannon with a laugh.

"I _hope_ you're not telling me that you've never heard of an ATV. I hope you're no telling me that because that would be un-American," he said, sounding like he was preaching to a congregation.

"She's from Brazil," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Doesn't matter," Jasper said, shaking his head. "He's already started his tangent."

Indeed, Emmett didn't notice my statement and continued on. "How could one go through life without ever riding on one? Never feel the wind whipping around you while the sun shines hot on your face?"

"We're in Washington. There's sun, like, five days a year," I said amused.

"This is a travesty!" Emmett exclaimed, collapsing against his Jeep.

"That's it!" he said suddenly, slamming his hands against the sides of the vehicle. "You're riding with me!"

"I don't think that's such a great idea," Rhiannon said, looking worried as she adamantly shook her head.

"Why not?" Emmett asked, a classic "puppy-dog" look on his face.

"He's not going to take 'no' for an answer," Jasper said, placing an apologetic hand on Rhiannon's shoulder. "You might as well give up now."

"Well…okay. I guess," she said, looking at the ATVs hesitantly.

"Fabulous!" Emmett exclaimed, satisfied and he bounded over and jumped on his four-wheeler, bringing it to a roaring start.

Jasper followed suit and got on the other one. I hopped on behind him, lacing my hands around his waist, holding on for dear life. I whispered a silent prayer, hoping I wouldn't fall off. Rhiannon cautiously climbed on behind Emmett, looking very nervous.

Emmett and Jasper sent each other evil smiles, which I have to admit, was unnerving. Then, Emmett pushed a button to open the garage, and we took off, racing quickly into the deep forest.


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N: **So this update took a little longer than the others. I apologize. But I hope there are some of you still out there with me! And of course, feedback is always appreciated. Thanks!

**Shoutout: **A BIG thank you to sw1m4l1fe, Jammeke, Wickedgal08 and Kaitlin13 for their reviews on the last chapter. They mean SO much to me guys! :) and, as always, thanks to sw1m4l1fe one for being my brilliant Beta! she is sooo in my head, it's insane. love you, darlin'!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own diddly squat. Except Rhiannon.

* * *

**Chapter Five (James' POV)**

I sat on a tree stump in a small clearing, deep in the woods of the Forks forest, me and Rhiannon's designated meeting spot. I was waiting for her to come back from her initial meeting with the human. She had been gone all day and I was beginning to grow impatient.

I was in the process of doodling in the dirt with a stick when I heard footsteps approaching. I looked up and saw my partner in crime materialize from behind some branches. I stared at her, taking in her appearance, and all my previous thoughts of aggravation flew out of my head when I saw the state that she was in.

My jaw dropped. "What in the name of all things holy happened to you?" I asked her, incredulously. If I had not been in such a state of shock, I would have laughed.

Rhiannon was an absolute disaster. Mud was caked all over her clothes, as well as her face. Her normally perfectly smooth hair had frizzed up to twice its normal size and there were small twigs and leaves jutting out in various places.

"Shut up," snapped Rhiannon, shooting me a glare. If I wasn't already technically "dead", her death look would have done the trick right then.

"You look like were hit by a truck. As a human," I coolly replied, knowing it would drive her crazy.

I was right. She immediately tensed up, clenching her hands into fists, looking as if she wanted to kill me. However, she took a few deep breaths and composed herself.

"You know, you're really lucky the Cullens know who you are, otherwise, you'd be the one having to put up with them and all their 'togetherness' shit," Rhiannon said with a sneer, as if the thought alone was enough to make her hurl. "I swear, it's like I stepped into an episode of _Barney_ or something. If I hear one more thing about how 'there' for each other they all are, I'm absolutely going to lose it. It's revolting," she spat, wrinkling her nose in disgust.

As she was going through her tirade, my glance drifted from her eyes down to her clothing, once again taking in her messy appearance. This time I noticed that mixed in with the mud was what appeared to be blood. I would have automatically assumed that she, like I had predicted, had been unable to resist the girl, but she clearly stated that did not _yet_ lose it.

"What?" I asked, interrupting her rant, which was still continuing.

"You mean you didn't actually lose it yet?" I said with a bit too much surprise in my voice.

"What are you, dense?" she scoffed, almost sounding a bit offended. "Of course I didn't. Some of us actually have some self-control," she said, eyeing me pointedly.

I raised one of my eyebrows skeptically. "You didn't harm the girl at all? Not even a little?"

Rhiannon slumped down onto the stump next to me. "No. I _told_ you I'd be able to resist, and I did," she said, shoving me in the shoulder.

I stroked my chin as I eyed her sardonically. "I'm not sure I can believe you, especially with such high stakes as the ones we laid out. And besides, the fact that your clothes are drenched in blood tells a different story than the one you're spinning."

She held up her blood covered sleeve and put it directly under my nose. "Take a whiff," she directed.

I did, though I immediately wished I hadn't. The smell almost knocked me over. "That is absolutely vile," I told her, springing up from my position and crossing the clearing in the span of a second just to get away from the wretched smell.

"Smell like the girl's blood to you?" she asked, batting her eyelashes in feigned innocence.

I scowled at her obvious mocking of me. "Obviously not," I muttered, my face in the pine tree needles, trying to get some smell, any smell in my system to replace the vile odor.

"What is it?" I asked. Curiosity got the better of me. I could not fathom any reason why blood would smell that bad.

"Deer," Rhiannon answered, smirking.

"Why?" I asked, still utterly disgusted.

She rolled her eyes. "Well, I had to tell them _something_, didn't I? I wasn't about to show up on their doorstep, unannounced, and expect them to welcome me with open arms and without question," she said, speaking to me like I was an idiot. "So I told them I was interested in learning about their 'vegetarian' lifestyle. But unfortunately, that meant them taking me out to the woods to hunt deer."

"Did the deer win?" I asked, referring to obscene amount of blood she had caked all over her.

She seemed taken aback by my question. "What are you talking about?" she asked.

I crossed back over to where she was standing. "I repeat, 'you look like you've been hit by a truck,'" I said, reaching up to pick a twig out of her hair. I handed it to her with a smug grin on my face.

She snatched it out of my hand and immediately tossed to the ground. "Yeah, that'd be a prime example of the Cullens being 'there' for each other," she said, scoffing. "The girl was stressing out over the images I planted in the seer's head, so the two young males in the family took her out for a joyride on these death machines. I had to go along in order to keep up appearances. And once he found out I had never ridden one before, the large one took great delight in making my ride as 'enjoyable' as possible."

"And was it?"

Rhiannon sent me another one of her death glares. I was beginning to think it was a signature look for her. "Does this look enjoyable to you?" she asked, sarcasm oozing out of her voice. "I swear there wasn't a single hill he didn't fly off of, any tree branches he didn't barrel through or any mud puddles he didn't drive over. And then of course, there was the deer hunt. Even though I'm never one to shy away from a challenge, I can't say that I liked the fact that I had to chase my meal through the woods. Even when I thought I had it, the damn thing would dart out of my grasp and I'd have to start the whole process over again. It was exhausting, and let me tell you, dirty is _not_ a good look for me."

If she was going to dish out the sarcasm, I wasn't about to roll over and take it. I was going to serve it right back to her. "Hey, don't be so hard on yourself," I said, sardonically slinging one of my arms across her shoulders. "I think you look quite ravishing."

She shrugged it off and turned to face me. "Yeah, that's right. Laugh it up. But of course you know what this means, don't you, James?" she asked, folding her arms across her chest confidently.

"That you are sleeping the hell away from me because you smell absolutely revolting."

Rhiannon smirked. "Actually, luckily for you, it means quite the opposite," she said, her lips curling into a sly smile.

I had no idea what she was talking about. "Continue," I encouraged, officially intrigued.

"It means that I have not killed the human and therefore, have won our bet."

"So I get to be at your beck-and-call whenever you want. Right. Lucky me," I scoffed, rolling my dark eyes.

"Cheer up, James," she said, patting on my cheek mockingly. "You have to look on the bright side."

"I doubt there's a bright side to being your slave."

"I don't think you're realizing all the possibilities," she purred, her voice suddenly a few octaves lower as she slowly unzipped her sweatshirt and slipped it off, revealing a tight, black tank top. The undershirt had quite a striking effect against her translucent skin.

Shaking off that last thought, I realized that I still did not know where exactly she was heading with this conversation. "I don't think you could be any more cryptic," I told her skeptically.

She placed a small hand against my chest and began walking forward, forcing me to move backwards with her. "You see," she drawled out slowly, still in the low voice, her eyes locked on mine. She looked like a woman on a mission. "In a way, you've also won." I felt something hard come in contact with my back. She had pushed me up against a tree.

Still not knowing what was going on, I made a joke to hide my confusion as well as the fact that I was now beginning to get slightly uncomfortable from the whole situation. "Unbelievable! You've done it! You were more cryptic."

She snaked one hand around my neck and pulled my ear down to her lips. "This is going to be so much fun," she said softly.

She ran her hands down both of my bare arms seductively. Then, she took my hands and pulled them behind my back, tying them together with her sweatshirt, pinning me to the tree.

Had I been thinking straight at the moment, I would have remembered the ridiculous amount of strength I had in my possession and broken free from her trap. But I was too stunned to form any coherent thoughts. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" was all I managed to get out.

She appeared from behind the tree to face me once again. "Take it easy, James," she said, her fingers grazing the skin between my shirt and my low-slung plants. "It's like Emmett told me before we went out on those bikes: just sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride."

A while later Rhiannon was zipping her sweatshirt back up while I shrugged my pants on. "Well, I can't say I was expecting that," I said, sending Rhiannon a smirk. "But you were wrong earlier. Dirty _is_ a good look for you."

She tilted her head to the side, sending her dark hair cascading over her shoulders. "You're complaining?" she asked, raising an eyebrow in amusement.

I pondered that for about a split second. "I didn't say that."

"That's what I thought. No one ever resists me," she shrugged.

"Cocky much?" I asked with a laugh.

"No, it's just a statement of fact. I know what I want and I do whatever it takes to get it," she said bluntly.

"And you wanted me?" I asked, a bit cockily.

She thought for a moment. I could see the look in her eyes before she answered and I have to admit, I felt my heart sink a little. "Not exactly," she answered. "I just wanted someone I could have a little fun with without…hurting. You were the best candidate for the job."

"Thanks," I responded, rolling my eyes, an attempt on my part to mask the blow to my manhood.

"What?" she asked innocently.

"You couldn't have lied a little?" I asked, taking a seat on my tree stump. "Telling someone he was 'the best candidate for the job' is not exactly what guys like to hear after sex."

She came over and sat beside me. "Aww, poor little James!" she teased, her dark eyes glistening with amusement. "Did I hurt your fragile male ego?" she asked with an incredulous laugh.

"No," I answered quickly, refusing to meet her eyes.

Rhiannon grinned. "Liar," she said, placing her hand dangerously high up on my thigh. "Do you want me to kiss it and make it better?" she asked suggestively.

"Hey, hey, hey. Down girl," I said with a laugh. I didn't realize this girl was insatiable. "Put some ice on it for a minute. Don't you think we should talk?"

She recoiled her hand and looked at me, confused. "Talk? You really are the girl in this relationship, aren't you?"

"Don't get me wrong, as much as I _love_ being used as one of your play things, I think that now that you're in with the girl, we should strike and strike fast. Why waste any time?"

"Says the guy who spent a year wallowing in self-loathing in Brazil while he waited to take action," she muttered in a huff under her breath, but still loud enough that it was obvious that she meant me to hear it.

"That was before I had you to teach me any better."

"I figured you would be a quick learner," she said. I figured a woman like her needed to be hit with a compliment in a time like this. That should make her perk up.

It worked. Her mood changed in a snap. A sly, cocky smile appeared on her lips. "Impressed?" she asked, looking like she was quite proud of herself.

I shook my head stubbornly. "No," I teased.

"Yeah right," Rhiannon said, leaning close to me. She ran her fingers through my hair, staring at me deeply with one of her seducing looks. Death glares and seductive looks. I had to hand it to her. She pulled both off extremely well.

I had no choice but to respond. I put a hand behind her head and roughly connected her lips to mine. Once I let her go, she looked at me, smirking. "Hmm. I take that back. You're a very quick learner," she said with a little laugh.

I kept my cool on the outside, but inwardly, I was ecstatic. So I finally had a tool I could use to get to her. Looks like the playing field between us might finally be even.

I shifted my body weight so I was now sitting on the stump facing her instead of being side-by-side. "So what's the next step in your fantastically evil plan?" I asked casually.

"That's the easiest part," she said with an evil tone in her voice. "I simply take Bella for a little 'nature walk' in the woods. Edward will come rushing to her rescue and BAM!" She suddenly clapped her hands together, sending a large, booming echo through the woods. "We finish them both."

Something inside me clicked. I had suddenly remembered something. I looked at her, narrowing my eyelids over my eyes. "You never did tell me exactly why you have it in for our poor little Romeo," I asked curiously.

"I didn't?" she asked innocently, with a "who me?" look on her face. I wasn't buying it.

"No. All you told me that you met him in Italy about a year ago and that the rest was a story for another time," I said, remembering when she approached me in the bar a few days ago. That was the last and only time she mentioned the subject. "Don't you think now's the time?"

Rhiannon's face seemed to become even paler then it already was, which one would have thought to be impossible. She sat there in silence for a few moments, looking at an insect prattling away on the ground instead of at me.

When she didn't speak, I became worried. "Rhiannon, what happened in Italy?" I asked, unable to hide the concern radiating from my voice. "He didn't…he didn't _hurt_ you did he?" I asked, becoming strangely angry at the very thought.

She snapped out of her trance. "Saint Edward?" she asked, finally looking up at me with a raised eyebrow. "Oh God, no. At least not in the sense you're implying," she said with a slight, sarcastic laugh.

"Well, what then?"

A sad smile appeared on her face. "You know, I'll never forget that first time I saw him. It was like seeing an _anjo_- an angel. If I had had a beating heart, it would have stopped. He was devastatingly beautiful."

I snorted, inwardly disgusted at what I was hearing. What was it with the guy and the effect he had on women? It was beyond me.

"Hey, don't judge," she said, swatting at my arm.

"I wasn't judging," I asked, holding up my hands in front of me in defense.

"You so were," she crossed her arms, looking at me pointedly. "And if you want to hear the rest of this story, I'd keep your comments to yourself."

"I didn't say anything!" I exclaimed incredulously.

"Surely you're aware you say a lot when you don't say anything."

"What?" I asked, my eyebrows knitting together in confusion. This woman seemed very fond of vague, cryptic answers. It was very frustrating.

"You have a very expressive face, James," she said, laying a hand on my cheek. "Your expressions are worth a thousand words."

I rolled my eyes. "I thought that was a picture," I muttered sarcastically.

Rhiannon drew her hand away. "Do you want to hear the rest of this or not?"

"By all means, continue," I said mockingly.

"I'm serious. You have to keep your mouth shut."

"Are you gonna make me?"

"Don't tempt me," she threatened.

I leaned in close to her. "What if I want you to shut me up?" I asked suggestively, trying to tease her.

"Look, you're the one who said he wanted to talk."

"Can't a guy change his mind?" I asked, trailing a finger down her arm.

She showed no outward reaction. "He could, but not if he wants to hear the rest of this story because I'm thinking that I'll only be willing to tell it right now, at this very moment."

"Tease," I joked.

"Take it or leave it."

"Fine," I said, pulling away from her. "I'll take it. Go on with the story."

She sent me a victorious smirk. "If you insist."

But then, her demeanor changed once again. She looked up at me and I saw something in her eyes that I had never seen before. She seemed…vulnerable, something I would have never thought possible. It was almost unnerving.

She took a deep breath and began to tell me her story. "He wasn't drop dead gorgeous, at least not in a feral sense of the word. He was so much more than that. He was captivating, mysterious, intoxicating. And he was _beautiful_. It's almost indescribable. The attraction was instantaneous. I couldn't help but be drawn to him. It was like a moth to a flame. I just couldn't take my eyes off of him. I wanted him. I_ needed_ him."

I wisely bit my tongue while she spoke. I knew she was serious when she said she would stop if I interrupted with a sarcastic comment, so I said nothing, and waited for her to continue.

"I watched him for a few days, plotting my next move. And the more I watched, the more intrigued I became. He was always alone, just aimlessly wandering. It was as if he was physically there, but not mentally. His golden eyes were empty. He looked broken."

That was too much for me. I couldn't keep quiet any longer. "And you wanted to fix him?" I asked in disbelief. "How very cliché of you, Rhiannon," I snapped while inwardly thinking of consequences that could stem from that last statement.

However, none came. She simply shrugged. "Just look at the man. Who could blame me?" she said bluntly.

This made me angry. The thought of Rhiannon pining over that weasely little Cullen was making me sick. "I thought you of all people would have higher standards than that pathetic excuse for a vampire," I said, wrinkling my nose in contempt. "He's weak, too emotional."

"For the love of God, James, I _am_ a female."

"And?"

"_And_ you have to forget your male-driven, fact-based logic for a minute here and look at things from a woman's point of view."

"Which is…?"

"Women can appreciate the finer things in life, such as art. Art is beautiful. And when we see something that is aesthetically pleasing, we want it. It's instinct. The man is stunning, plain and simple. It's undeniable."

"Speak for yourself," I said under my breath.

She made a face like she heard me, but chose not to comment. "Like I said before, I know what I want and I do what it takes to get it. I wanted Edward. And I told him so. And he rejected me."

I thought about that for a moment. "Someone turned you down and now you're going to kill him?" I asked curiously. That seemed extreme, even for me.

Rhiannon let out a loud sigh. "It wasn't just that he rejected me, James. I wasn't about to give up that easily. I tried every trick I knew to get him to want me. I even considered putting a mind block on him to get him to think of nothing but me, but even I wouldn't stoop that low."

"That's a first," I quipped.

"Please," she said, beginning to get irritated. "Men should be thankful when I choose them. They usually fall over themselves to impress me. I don't have to lift a finger. But not Edward. I just couldn't figure him out. It was so frustrating. I got angry. It was just rejection after rejection. No one rejects me. Especially when I was going out of my way to win him over. So I decided he needed to be taught a lesson," she said, her chest heaving like she was struggling for breath.

"Killing him? Kind of a harsh lesson, don't you think?"

Something I said set off a trigger in her. She jumped up from the stump and stood directly in front of me, immediately dwarfing me.

She looked at me, her eyes wild. "I _loved_ him, James!" she exclaimed pitifully

My jaw dropped. That…I had not been anticipating. I didn't know what to say. I almost felt guilty even for forcing that out of her.

She sat back down. "Are you happy now? Is that what you wanted to hear?"she asked, sounding pathetic.

I was speechless. All emotional walls that had been in place since I met her finally seemed to be crumbling to the ground. "You loved him?" I managed to choke out.

It seemed like she was fighting back tears even though she and I both knew they would never come. She took both my hands in hers, eyeing me desperately. "I know it sounds crazy, but it's true. And I know that I put up a tough front, but _he_ made me that way. I saw him and I just _knew_. He was my one. He shattered me. I'm never going to be the same again. Why should he?"

"Didn't you know about the girl?" I asked slowly, trying not to upset her any further.

"Of course I didn't! I would have left him alone if I knew that. I only heard the full story after I went back to Brazil."

I hesitated before I spoke. I knew she was not going to like my next question, but I felt it had to be asked, just for the record. "You don't want to cut him some slack after finding out the truth?"

She dropped my hands and stood up again. "Don't try to talk me out of this! Why are you defending him?" she asked incredulously.

"I'm not!" I exclaimed, jumping up as well. "Believe me, if there's anyone who understands the inexplicable need for revenge, it's me."

She seemed to accept this as she said nothing more. She only shrugged.

I had to do something to lighten the mood. It was killing me to see her like this. I took her hands in mine. "And besides, I have to say that I'm glad he rejected you," I said, a smirk appearing on my lips.

She looked at me curiously. "And why exactly is that?" she asked, now distracted from her previous thoughts by my sudden shift in demeanor.

I pulled her close to me, leaning in to whisper in her ear. "Because then we'd never have met."

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**A/N 2: **be on the lookout for a special suprise tomorrow: Chapter 5: Gag Reel. Okay, so maybe it's not a suprise anymore, but when I had written the dialogue for this chapter, I had a friend of mine, who had no idea what was going on with the story, write all the descriptions/filler statements. The results were incredibly hilarious. I honestly could not stop laughing. So that'll be up tomorrow sometime :)

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	7. Chapter 5:Gag Reel

**A/N: **So, as promised, here's Chapter Five: The Gag Reel. When I write, I write all the dialogue first and then go back and fill in the rest. But for funsies, I asked my roommate to do it, even though she knew little about my story. These are the hilarious results. All the dialogue is the same as Chapter Five, but everything else is oh so different :) I hope you enjoy! I think she did a fantabulent job! But just a little warning, this chapter could very well fall into the "Crack!" category...haha

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**Chapter Five (3rd person POV)**

"What in the name of all things holy happened to you?" asked James incredulously.

"Shut up." She looked like a hot mess, not in a good way, and that never had a good effect on her temperament.

"You look like were hit by a truck. As a human." He said this through a snoruckle, which is an unfortunate combination of a snort and chuckle. Or would it be a chort?

"You know, you're really lucky the Cullens know who you are, otherwise, you'd be the one having to put up with them and all their 'togetherness' shit. I swear it's like I stepped into an episode of _Barney_ or something. If I hear one more thing about how 'there' for each other they all are, I'm absolutely going to lose it. It's revolting."

Again he was staring at her blankly. As if she had a leprechaun on her head that was right smack dab in the middle of giving birth to a herd of giraffe.

"What?"

"You mean you didn't actually lose it yet?" Again, incredulous.

"What are you, dense? Of course I didn't. Some of us actually have some self-control."

"You didn't harm the girl at all? Not even a little?"

"No. I _told_ you I'd be able to resist, and I did." Angry and annoyed further by his disbelief she growled this statement like a woman in labor whose husband insists that the time he got a paper cut was worse.

He heard her growl but saw it as a game and thusly decided to provoke her further. "I'm not sure I can believe you, especially with such high stakes as the ones we laid out. And besides, the fact that your clothes are drenched in blood tells a different story than the one you're spinning." Was there spinning in Rumpelstiltskin? I think so. Wiki says that the name _Rumpelstilzchen_ in German means literally "little rattle stilt". A _rumpelstilt_ or _rumpelstilz_ was the name of a type of goblin, also called a _pophart_ or _poppart_ that makes noises by rattling posts and rapping on planks.

"Take a whiff." She said offering a variety of body parts in a dance not unlike the hokey pokey. She put her right hand in, she took her right hand out, all that good stuff.

"That is absolutely vile." He said this referring to both the dance and the rank off her sleeve.

"Smell like the girl's blood to you?"

"Obviously not. What is it?"

"Deer." What did he think it was? Yeti?

"Why?"

"Well, I had to tell them _something_, didn't I? I wasn't about to show up on their doorstep, unannounced, and expect them to welcome me with open arms and without question. So I told them I was interested in learning about their 'vegetarian' lifestyle. But unfortunately, that meant them taking me out to the woods to hunt deer."

"Did the deer win?" He was laughing so hard he fell down and started sliding down a hill. For a vampire with awesome senses he didn't seem to notice he displacement.

"What are you talking about?"

"I repeat, 'you look like you've been hit by a truck.'" He jumped back into postion and picked a twig out of her hair that was almost large enough to be construed as a stick, or better yet an antler.

"Yeah, that'd be a prime example of the Cullens being 'there' for each other. The girl was stressing out over the images I planted in the seer's head, so the two young males in the family took her out for a joyride on these death machines. I had to go along in order to keep up appearances. And once he found out I had never ridden one before, the large one took great delight in making my ride as 'enjoyable' as possible." Those cats were dangerously cute after all but not as dangerous as the ride on that contraption.

"And was it?"

"Does this look enjoyable to you? I swear there wasn't a single hill he didn't fly off of, any tree branches he didn't barrel through and any mud puddles he didn't drive over. And then of course, there was the deer hunt. Even though I'm never one to shy away from a challenge, I can't say that I liked the fact that I had to chase my meal through the woods. Even when I thought I had it, the damn thing would dart out of my grasp and I'd have to start the whole process over again. It was exhausting, and let me tell you, dirty is _not_ a good look for me."

"Hey, don't be so hard on yourself. I think you look quite ravishing."

"Yeah, that's right. Laugh it up. But of course you know what this means, don't you, James?"

"That you are sleeping the hell away from me because you smell absolutely revolting." He pinched his nose in a further attempt, failed, attempt to be humorous.

"Actually, luckily for you, it means quite the opposite." This is getting eyebrow waggling good.

"Continue." He said while waggling his eyebrows the way you would expect someone to when they are pretending to not know when someone is talking about sex.

"It means that I have not killed the human and therefore, have won our bet."

"So I get to be at your beck-and-call whenever you want. Right. Lucky me." We hope he isn't really this stupid but he, the poor vampire has no blood flow to his brain, what can we do?

"Cheer up, James. You have to look on the bright side."

"I doubt there's a bright side to being your slave."Still eyebrow waggling.

"I don't think you're realizing all the possibilities." She slips off her sweater because it was nasty and so was she.

"I don't think you could be any more cryptic." Unless of course she was an Egyptian transcript and he was a two year old.

"You see, in a way, you've also won." She pushes him up against a tree and knocked down half the forest in a dominos fashion.

"Unbelievable! You've done it! You were more cryptic." - this is sarcasm?!

"This is going to be so much fun." Said she as she tied his arms around the tree with sweater.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" _Does she know I have awesome strength?_

"Take it easy, James. It's like Emmett told me before we went out on those bikes: just sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride." _He doesn't know that this sweater isn't cotton! He is forever my prisoner! Mwahahaha._

This is where the gratuitous sex scene happens. It was so awesome that unicorns were blinded, mostly though because their phallic symbols could not stand up to the power and strength of a woman/vampire/dead person who is manipulating a man/vampire/dead person with sex. All that unicorn horn and men being superior was just a dudes way of feeling better.

"Well, I can't say I was expecting that. But you were wrong earlier. Dirty _is_ a good look for you."

Because they were now covered in mud, soot (from the fire they started with the friction from their stone bodies) and bird poo (from the pigeon tourists from New York who thought they were action art, and we all know pigeons hate art.)

"You're complaining?"

"I didn't say that." _Because it was awesome!_

"That's what I thought. No one ever resists me."

"Cocky much?" That's what she would normally say so it is ironic that he said it because no, in fact she is not THAT well endowed. Or is she?

"No, it's just a statement of fact. I know what I want and I do whatever it takes to get it." Phew, she isn't that well endowed.

"And you wanted me?"

"Not exactly. I just wanted someone I could have a little fun with without…hurting. You were the best candidate for the job."

"Thanks."

"What?"

"You could've have lied a little? Telling someone he was 'the best candidate for the job' is not exactly what guys like to hear after sex."

"Aww, poor little James! Did I hurt your fragile male ego?"

"No."

"Liar. Do you want me to kiss it and make it better?"

"Hey, hey, hey. Down girl. Put some ice on it for a minute. Don't you think we should talk?"

"Talk? You really are the girl in this relationship, aren't you? Well actually I HAVE been meaning to ask you something. How is it we can have sex if you have no or very little blood?"

Ignoring her question but he made a note that he should ask Carlisle next time they were about to show down… He needed the sex talk. "Don't get me wrong, as much as I _love_ being used as one of your play things, I think that now that you're in with the girl, we should strike and strike fast. Why waste any time?"

"Says the guy who spent a year wallowing in self-loathing in Brazil while he waited to take action."

"That was before I had you to teach me any better."

"I figured you would be a quick learner."

"Impressed?"

"No."

"Liar."

"Hmm. I take that back. You're a very quick learner."

"So what's the next step in your fantastically evil plan?" More sex?

"That's the easiest part. I simply take Bella for a little 'nature walk' in the woods. Edward will come rushing to her rescue and BAM! We finish them both."

"You never did tell me exactly why you have it in for our poor little Romeo."

"I didn't?"

"No. All you told me that you met him in Italy about a year ago and that the rest was a story for another time. Don't you think now's the time?"

The fact that she was hesitant in answering was worrying to him. Inconceivable as it was.

"Rhiannon, what happened in Italy? He didn't…he didn't _hurt_ you did he?"

"Saint Edward? Oh God, no. At least not in the sense you're implying."

"Well, what then?"

"You know, I'll never forget that first time I saw him. It was like seeing an _anjo_- an angel. If I had had a beating heart, it would have stopped. He was devastatingly beautiful."

James snorts

"Hey, don't judge."

"I wasn't judging." Except he was. That damn Edward was always stealing his girls.

"You so were. And if you want to hear the rest of this story, I'd keep your comments to yourself."

"I didn't say anything!"

"Surely you're aware you say a lot when you don't say anything."

"What?" That was a stupid statement.

"You have a very expressive face, James. Your expressions are worth a thousand words."

"I thought that was a picture." (That's what I thought)

"Do you want to hear the rest of this or not?"

"By all means, continue."

"I'm serious. You have to keep your mouth shut."

"Are you gonna make me?"

"Don't tempt me."

"What if I want you to shut me up?"

"Look, you're the one who said he wanted to talk."

"Can't a guy change his mind?" Actually on a biological level, at least when he was alive for realsies his body would always want to mate. After all, of all the primates, humans are the only ones who mate face to face, but that is because they are the only ones who stand upright. Like other primates though the size of the package (not of the specific person but of the species) relates the promiscuity of the males. Chimps for example are very well endowed but the males are ladies men… um chimps, and gorillas are a quarter of the size of the average human but they mate for life. Also as a side note humans are one of the only species that don't have an actual bone in their… ermm… "Throbbing member." But I digress.

"He could, but not if he wants to hear the rest of this story because I'm thinking that I'll only be willing to tell it right now, at this very moment."

"Tease."

"Take it or leave it."

"Fine. I'll take it. Go on with the story."

"If you insist. He wasn't drop dead gorgeous, at least not in a feral sense of the word. He was so much more than that. He was captivating, mysterious, intoxicating. And he was _beautiful_. It's almost indescribable. The attraction was instantaneous. I couldn't help but be drawn to him. It was like a moth to a flame. I just couldn't take my eyes off of him. I wanted him. I_ needed_ him."

James tried to hide his gag reflexs.

"I watched him for a few days, plotting my next move. And the more I watched, the more intrigued I became. He was always alone, just aimlessly wandering. It was as if he was psychically there, but not mentally. His golden eyes were empty. He looked broken."

"And you wanted to fix him? How very cliché of you, Rhiannon."

"Just look at the man. Who could blame me?"

"I thought you of all people would have higher standards than that pathetic excuse for a vampire. He's weak, too emotional."

"For the love of God, James, I _am_ a female."

"And?"

"_And_ you have to forget your male-driven, fact-based logic for a minute here and look at things from a woman's point of view.

He said this next part expecting to get into trouble but he couldn't resist. "If I were a woman I would want to be in my pants again."

FIN.


End file.
